ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ ‘James Crabtree distinguished himself as the most insightful journalist writing for the Financial Times from India It is not surprising therefore that he has now written a book that offers a splendid overview of the issues that have been raised concerning India’s spectacular growth since the reforms began in 1991 It is bound to become a classic.’ Jagdish Bhagwati, author of In Defense of Globalization ‘A lucid, detailed and at times epic account of the new India, opening our eyes to the economic and social transformation that has quietly occurred there in recent years, behind the facade of the headlines.’ Robert D Kaplan, author of Monsoon and The Return of Marco Polo’s World ‘Who are the Indian nouveau riche and what they want? James Crabtree’s The Billionaire Raj will prove the defining work on these questions It is a must-read for anyone interested in wealth, inequality, India, or the evolution of capitalism.’ Tyler Cowen, economist, blogger and author of The Great Stagnation ‘A fascinating look into the world of the Indian business elite – the “Bollygarchs” – and their political entanglements James Crabtree deftly explores the changing balance between big money and democratic accountability, shedding considerable light on whether the country will sustain the miracle that is the Indian democracy or go the way of populism and authoritarianism as so many others have.’ Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard University, and author of The Globalization Paradox THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ A JOURNEY THROUGH INDIA’S NEW GILDED AGE JAMES CRABTREE A Oneworld Book First published in Great Britain and Australia by Oneworld Publications Ltd, 2018 This ebook published 2018 Copyright © James Crabtree 2018 The moral right of James Crabtree to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved Copyright under Berne Convention A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library Hardback ISBN 978-1-78607-380-8 Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-78607-529-1 eISBN 978-1-78607-381-5 Photographs: Dhobi Ghat © Aleksandr Zykov; Antilia © Jay Hariani; Mallya © Sajjad Hussain/Stringer/Getty Images; Adani © Mint/Getty Images; Gujarat riot © Sebastian D’Souza/Stringer/Getty Images; protest against demonetisation © Fotokannan; Modi © Hindustan Times/Getty Images; Jayalalithaa © Nandhinikandhasamy; Jindal © Hindustan Times/Getty Images; Reddy wedding © Stringer/Getty Images; IPL protest © Manjunath Kiran/Stringer/Getty Images; Goswami © Sujit Jaiswal/Stringer/ Getty Images; Modi and Obama © Pete Souza; Aston Martin © James Crabtree Typeset by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh Oneworld Publications Ltd 10 Bloomsbury Street London WC1B 3SR England Stay up to date with the latest books, special offers, and exclusive content from Oneworld with our newsletter Sign up on our website oneworld-publications.com To my parents CONTENTS Prologue Introduction ix xv PART 1: TYCOONS The Richest Man in India The Good Times Begin Rise of the Bollygarchs PART 2: POLITICAL MACHINES India Modified The Season of Scams Money Power Politics Cronyism Goes South 27 53 81 103 127 149 PART 3: A NEW GILDED AGE 10 11 12 House of Debt The Anxious Tycoons More than a Game The Nation Wants to Know The Tragedies of Modi Conclusion: A Progressive Era? Acknowledgements Bibliography Notes Index 177 201 225 251 273 297 307 311 319 347 To Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Mahim Bay bandra-worli sea link I N DIA Mumbai Arabian Sea SOU TH MUMBA I Site of the Aston Martin Crash Antilia Pedder Road Gamdevi Police Station Babulnath Temple Chowpatty Beach Marine Drive Reserve Bank of India Back Bay Mumbai Harbour Taj Mahal Palace Hotel Sea Wind Mile Kilometre PROLOGUE It was a sunny December day when I found it, abandoned outside a Mumbai police station and draped in a dirty plastic sheet The silhouette revealed the outline of a car, low to the ground and beaten out of shape A chunky black tyre was propped awkwardly against the chassis Thin white string tethered the sheet to a telephone pole, although this did nothing to stop me lifting it up and taking a peek below The scene underneath was a mess A tangle of metal erupted from the driver’s side The bonnet was bent across the middle, pushed up by a violent impact Broken tubes stuck out from the engine Through a shattered windscreen I could see cramped rear seats, once plush red, now filthy and covered with dust But the passenger’s side was in better shape, revealing the classic lines of an Aston Martin Rapide, one of the world’s most expensive supercars The vehicle had met its demise late at night a few weeks earlier, in an incident whose mysterious aftermath stuck long in my mind as an exemplar of the power of India’s new super-rich It had been roaring north up Pedder Road, a dual carriageway that separates two wealthy sections of the country’s financial capital To the left was Breach Candy, a plush enclave of residential towers offering pleasant views over the Arabian Sea Narrow lanes to the right led up to Altamount Road, where colonial-era mansions hid behind high walls and iron gates It was roughly 1:30 a.m when the Aston’s driver lost control, rearending another car Jolted by the impact, the second vehicle, an Audi A4, spun onto the opposite carriageway and clipped an oncoming bus A collision with a third car then crushed the Aston’s front end, sending 344 THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ 44 James Crabtree, ‘Forget Brexit Rexit Is the Real Problem’, Foreign Policy, 22 June 2016 45 ‘Tolerance and Respect for Economic Progress: Full Text of Raghuram Rajan’s Speech at IIT-Delhi’, Times of India, 31 October 2015 46 ‘Raghuram Rajan “Mentally Not Fully Indian”, Sack Him, Subramanian Swamy Writes to PM Modi’, Times of India, 17 May 2016 47 Victor Mallet, ‘India’s Top Judge Thakur Pleads for Help with Avalanche of Cases’, Financial Times, 25 April 2016 48 ‘Courts Will Take 320 Years to Clear Backlog Cases: Justice Rao’, Times of India, March 2010 49 Michael Barbaro, ‘Bloomberg’s Bullpen: Candidates Debate Its Future’, New York Times, 22 March 2013 50 Ramachandra Guha, ‘Are We Becoming an Election Only Democracy?’, Hindustan Times, 29 November 2015 51 Fareed Zakaria, ‘The Rise of Illiberal Democracy’, Foreign Affairs, November–December 1997 52 Shashi Tharoor, ‘Tharoor on Modi’s Mid-Term: Parivar Haunts PM’s Sabka Vikas Agenda’, The Quint, 22 November 2016 53 Crabtree, ‘If They Kill Even One Hindu, We Will Kill 100!’ 54 Gurcharan Das, ‘Was Voting for the BJP a Risk Worth Taking? Three Years On, Jury’s Out’, Times of India blog, June 2017 CONCLUSION: A PROGRESSIVE ERA? James Crabtree, ‘Mumbai Takes to the Skies with New Airport Terminal’, Financial Times, 10 January 2014 Rajat Rai, ‘Modi: The Rich Need Pills to Go to Sleep after Demonetisation Move’, India Today, 15 November 2016 Manjeet S Pardesi and Sumit Ganguly, ‘India and Oligarchic Capitalism’, The Diplomat, 26 April 2011 ‘Data Shows Only 1% of Population Pays Income Tax, Over 5000 Pay More Than Crore’, Press Trust of India, May 2016 James Crabtree, ‘Has Narendra Modi Cleaned Up India?’, Prospect, 23 April 2015 Coralie Pring, ‘People and Corruption: Asia Pacific – Global Corruption Barometer’, Transparency International, 2017 Paul Collier, ‘The C-Word: Paul Collier on the Future of Corruption’, Times Literary Supplement, 11 July 2017 James Crabtree, ‘Modi’s Money Madness’, Foreign Affairs, 16 June 2017 NOTES 345 ‘Global Infrastructure Outlook: Infrastructure Investment Needs – 50 Countries, Sectors to 2040’, Oxford Economics, July 2017 10 Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies, p 11 Klitgaard, Controlling Corruption, p 24 12 Ben W Heineman Jr, ‘In China, Corruption and Unrest Threaten Autocratic Rule’, The Atlantic, 29 June 2011 13 Pratap Bhanu Mehta, ‘Seven Sins of Hubris’, Indian Express, June 2014 14 Francis Fukuyama, ‘What is Corruption?’, Research Institute for Development, Growth and Economics, 2016 15 For an excellent introduction to the topic of state capacity, see: Kapur et al., eds, Rethinking Public Institutions in India 16 Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies, p INDEX References to images are in italics Aadhaar system 286 Aam Aadmi (‘Common Man’) party 9–10, 15 Abdullah, Omar xi Abe, Shinzo 98 Abhyankar, Unmesh 57 Adani, Gautam 52, 54–7, 58–9, 60, 72–7, 299 and cricket 235, 236 and debt 183 and infrastructure 211 and trade 68 and wedding 215, 217 Adiga, Aravind 114 Adityanath, Yogi 287–8, 292 administration 119–21 Advani, L K 91 Ahmedabad 54, 56, 73, 83, 89, 98–9 AIADMK, see All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Air India 40, 42, 47–8, 49, 183 airports 171–2, 297–8 Aiyar, Shankkar 44 Aiyar, Swaminathan 107 alcohol 35–6, 37, 40–1; see also Kingfisher All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) 149, 151, 159, 160 Alvares, Claude 124 Ambani, Akash Ambani, Anil 3–4, 5–6, 22, 24, 58 and debt 183 and politics 141–2 Ambani, Dhirubhai 3, 4–5, 6, 9, 33, 60 Ambani, Kokilaben 4, Ambani, Mukesh xii–xiii, xvii, 16–25, 46, 299 and cricket 227 and family 211 and feud 3–4, 5–6 and Forbes magazine 60 and Goswami 253 and Guha Thakurta 58 and the media 263 and petrochemicals 68 and weddings 217 348 THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ see also Antilia Ambani, Nita 7, 8, 18–19 Ambedkar, B R 129 America, see United States of America Amma, see Jayalalithaa Anand, Viswanathan 41–2 Andhra Pradesh 157, 160–1, 162, 163, 165–73, 183; see also Telangana Angul 201, 203–4 anti-corruption movements 15, 21 and Modi 96–7, 104, 105, 119, 281–2 Antilia x, xv–xvi, 2, 3, 6–9, 11–12, 212–13 Arcelor 46 arms deals 117, 259 Australia 59, 75 aviation 37–8, 40, 109; see also Air India; Kingfisher Airlines Ayodhya 91–2, 97 Babur, Emperor 57 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 142 Bal Narendra (comic book) 85, 86–7 Bandyopadhyay, Tamal 145, 193 Banerjee, Mamata 141, 158 Bangalore 29, 62, 167 Banias 212 banking xxii, 47, 48–9, 104, 181–3, 208 and debt 184–5, 186–8, 189–99 Basu, Kaushik 117 BCCI, see Board of Control for Cricket in India Bernanke, Ben 190 betting 236–8 Bhagwati, Jagdish 68–70, 109 Bhandari, Parul 216, 217 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) xxi, 16, 32, 87, 88, 279 and elections 137, 141 see also Modi, Narendra Bhatia, Rahul 257, 259 Bhatt, Sanjiv 93 Bhattacharya, Arundhati 187, 194, 196 Bhushan, Prashant 21 billionaires xvi–xvii, xix–xxii, 67, 71–2, 298–300 and debt 184–5, 186–8, 196–8 and economics 67–8 and finance 209–10 and homes 212–13 and influence 217–18, 219–20 and politics 220–1 and Sharma 64–5 and Sinha 59–61, 62–3 and USA xxiii–xxiv, 12–13 and Walton 63–4 and weddings 215–17 see also Adani, Gautam; Ambani, Mukesh; Bollygarchs; Jhunjhunwala, Rakesh; Jindal, Naveen; Mallya, Vijay; Modi, Lalit; Singhania, Gautam Hari Birla, Kumar Mangalam 60 BJP, see Bharatiya Janata Party black money 104, 105, 106–8, 128 Bloomberg, Michael 291 Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) 228, 229, 231, 234, 235, 236 and Srinivasan 240, 241–2, 243–5, 247 Bollygarchs xvii, xxii, 59–66, 97 Bombay, see Mumbai Boo, Katherine 118, 298 Booth, Lawrence 244 Brahmins 129, 151, 155, 212 INDEX branding 34 Branson, Richard 34 Bremmer, Ian 61 bribery 104–5, 109, 114–18, 122 Britain, see Great Britain British Empire xviii, xix, 58, 108–9 BSP, see Bahujan Samaj Party Buffett, Warren 180 bureaucracy 119–21 call centres 62 capitalism 62, 66, 197, 198, 217–20; see also crony capitalism Carnegie, Andrew 180 cars 42–3, 156 caste system 43, 70, 97, 128, 151 and Andhra Pradesh 167–8 and family enterprise 211–12 and Modi 84–5, 86 and politics 129, 130 Chadha, Gurdeep ‘Ponty’ 143–4, 146 Chakravarty, Praveen 96 Chancel, Lucas 71 Chandra, Subhash 206, 212 Chandrasekhar, Rajeev 62, 168, 268 charity 217–18 Chennai 149–51, 154, 156 Chennai Super Kings 228, 243 China xvii, xxii, xxiv, xxv, 46, 132 and billionaires 67 and corruption 109–10, 118, 125 and cronyism 158 and exports 56 and mining 122–3 and the state 119, 303–4 Chola dynasty 57 Christians 87, 91 civil service 121–2 Clinton, Bill 166 Clive, Robert 108 349 coal 112–14, 187, 201, 202, 203–4, 206 colonialism 39, 40, 57–8, 83 Commonwealth Games 9, 111, 112, 113 Congress party 15–16, 82, 83, 96, 290 consumer goods 42–3 corruption xx–xxi, 9, 10–11, 47, 109–10, 300–2 and Andhra Pradesh 164–5, 166–73 and banking 193 and black money 105–8 and British Empire 108–9 and Congress 15–16 and elections 136–41 and ‘gold-plating’ 188 and Goswami 259 and growth 117–19 and Jayalalithaa 153 and Mallya 29–31, 48–50 and middlemen 114–17 and politics 128–9, 132–3, 134, 141–6 and Singh 63 and the south 157–8 and the state 120–5 see also anti-corruption movements; season of scams cows 277–8 cricket 224, 225–30, 231–48 criminal politicians 142, 143–6 Cronje, Hansie 236 crony capitalism xx–xxi, 9, 10–11, 13–15, 47, 301 and Andhra Pradesh 165–73 and corruption 109–10 and Sinha 61 and the south 157–8 350 THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ Dalvi, Mustansir 11 Damodaran, Harish 167, 168 Dara Singh, Vindu 254 Das, Gurcharan 124, 293 Dasgupta, Rana xix, 212, 221 Davos 46 Delhi, see New Delhi democracy 131–2, 275, 291 demonetisation 102, 103–6, 107–8, 128, 135, 299 Deng Xiaoping 56 Desai, Meghnad 171 Dhoni, Mahendra Singh 238 Diageo 49 Doordarshan 227, 256 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) 151, 159 Drèze, Jean xix, 69 driving tests 116–17 Dutt, Barkha 269 East India Company xviii, 54, 58 Eaton, Chris 237 Economic and Political Weekly (journal) 59 economics xvii–xix, 39–41, 46, 68–70 and crisis 38–9 and Modi 94, 95, 285 and tycoons 67–8 see also black money; demonetisation elections 126, 127–9, 132, 134–41, 146–7, 165 Emergency, the 90, 131 employment 121–2, 133, 274–5, 286 energy 21, 22, 23, 59, 74 Erdoğan, Recep Tayyip 98, 293 Essar 183, 218–19, 220 exiles 27–9 family enterprise 208–12, 214–15, 221, 240 finance 178–80, 181–3, 209–10; see also banking financial crisis xxii, 180, 190–1 fixers 114–17 Forbes (magazine) xvi, 55, 60, 212 and Ambani 6, 24 and Mallya 32, 35 Foundation for Democratic Reforms 165 Freund, Caroline 67–8 Friedman, Thomas 62 Fukuyama, Francis 98, 302 Gadkari, Nitin 219 Gandhi, Indira 15, 41, 90, 194, 210, 290 Gandhi, ‘Mahatma’ Mohandas xxiii, 11, 36, 39, 87, 99 and corruption 108–9 and Gujarat 82, 83 Gandhi, Rahul 57, 96, 105–6, 252, 290 Gandhi, Rajiv 15, 43, 97 Gandhi, Sonia 15–16 gas 22 gatekeepers 114–17 Gaur, Jaiprakash 221 GDP (gross domestic product) xviii, xxiv, 63–4, 131 globalisation xviii–xix, xxii, 46, 67–8 GMR 164, 167, 171, 183, 233 Goa 122–3, 124 Godhra 91–2 Godse, Nathuram 87 Goenka, Harsh 246 gold bars 43–4 Goswami, Arnab 239, 247–8, 250, 251–61, 262, 263–70, 271 and Modi 273–4, 284, 289 INDEX Gould, Jay xxiii Gowda, Rajeev 138–9, 140 Goyal, Piyush 103 Great Britain xviii, xxiii, 27–30, 40, 46, 61–2, 93; see also British Empire Guha, Ramachandra 233, 245, 291 Guha Thakurta, Paranjoy 58–9, 75–6 Gujarat 53–7, 58, 74, 76, 80, 91 and Modi 81–3, 84–7, 89, 94–5, 98–9 and Muslims 99–100 Gupta, Ashish 182–5, 186–7, 196 Gupta, Shekhar 304 GVK 167, 171, 183, 302 Haigh, Gideon 228, 240 Hamid, Mohsin 183 Hastings, Warren 108 Hawkins, Ed 237, 238 Hazare, Anna 15 Hindu nationalism 32, 70, 83, 95, 128 and Adityanath 287–8 and the media 269, 270 and Modi 97–8, 277–8, 279–80, 292–3 and RSS 87–9, 90 and violence 91–3 Hinduja brothers 60 ‘House of Debt’ 182–99 Human Rights Watch 93 Huntingdon, Samuel 118, 119, 131, 157, 301 Hurley, Liz 216 Hussaini, Shihan 154 Hyderabad 164–5, 167, 170, 171–2 IAS, see Indian Administrative Service 351 ICC, see International Cricket Council illiberalism 291–2 IMF, see International Monetary Fund imperialism, see colonialism India 32–3, 119–25, 290–1, 303–5 and banking 189–99 and billionaires 67 and boom 45–7 and capitalism 13–15, 66, 98 and corruption xx–xxi, 29, 109–10, 300–2 and debt 182–9 and democracy 131–2 and economy xvii–xix, xxii–xxiii, xxiv, xxv, 40–1, 68–70 and elections 126 and employment 274–5 and financial crisis 38–9, 43–4 and flag 204–5 and independence 39–40 and industry 210–11, 302–3 and inequality 70–2, 299–300 and parliament 160, 161 and politics 36–7, 96, 128–9, 159 and religion 91–3 and restrictions 41–3 and the south 157–8 and trade 57–8 and wealth 60–1, 64 see also Andhra Pradesh; Bangalore; Gujarat; Hyderabad; Mumbai; New Delhi; Tamil Nadu; Uttar Pradesh India Cements 233, 240, 243 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) 121, 122 Indian Airlines 40 Indian Premier League (IPL) 225, 226, 227, 228, 229–30, 231–6, 352 THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ 246–7 and Goswami 253–4 and Srinivasan 243 industry 208–11 inequality xx, 69, 70–2, 299–300 inflation 190 Infosys 62 Infotel Broadband 21–2 infrastructure 55–6, 74–5, 130, 171–2, 211, 303 inspectors 120 International Cricket Council (ICC) 242, 244, 245 International Monetary Fund (IMF) xx, 70–1, 72, 190 International Yoga Day 281 IPL, see Indian Premier League Islamism 98, 277–8; see also Muslims IT 61–2, 64, 65, 164–5 Kapur, Devesh 171 Karnataka 123–4, 153, 157 Kazi, Waqar 99 Kejriwal, Arvind 15 Kerala 102, 157 Kesavan, Mukul 241–2, 246 Khan, Shah Rukh 230, 233 Khanna, Tarun 209 Khilnani, Sunil 114–15, 131–2, 287 Kingfisher 28, 29, 34, 41, 49 and debt 183, 195 Kingfisher Airlines 29, 32, 34, 35, 37–8, 45, 47–8 Kingfisher Villa 32, 34, 49, 50 Kishwar, Madhu 253 Klitgaard, Robert 112, 302 Kotak, Uday 180 Kumar, Neeraj 225–6, 236 Kumar, Rajiv 108 Kuznets, Simon 72 Jaffrelot, Christophe 96 Jailey, Arun 242 Jain, Vineet 262 Jammu and Kashmir 251, 271 Janmohamed, Zahir 100 Javadekar, Prakash 284 Jayalalithaa (‘Amma’) 148, 150–60, 216 Jeelani, Mehboob 143, 206 Jhunjhunwala, Rakesh 177–81, 182 Jindal, Naveen 176, 201–8, 209, 211, 213, 221–2 Jindal Steel Power Limited (JSPL) 202–3, 205, 206, 208 Jio telecoms 18, 19–21, 23, 24 JK House 213–14 Jose, Vinod 94 Lall, Rajiv 188 Lanco 162, 167, 172, 183 land 63, 64, 75, 120, 170–1 Lee Kuan Yew 96, 285 legislation 119–21 Licence Raj xvii, xix, 4, 40–1, 68, 109 licencing 210 London 27–30 Kahneman, Daniel 187 Kaplan, Robert 98 McCullum, Brendan 230 McKinsey 59 Madras, see Chennai Mahindra, Anand 210 Malaysia xxii, 118, 158 Mallya, Vijay 26, 27–38, 39, 45, 47–51 and caste 212 and cricket 227, 230 and debt 195, 196, 198 INDEX and Goswami 253 and industries 210 and Modi 299 and politics 65 and religion 221 Mallya, Vittal 33 mansions 212–14; see also Antilia manufacturing 5, 46, 275, 286, 305 Marwaris 212 Mayawati 131, 142, 144, 158 media, the 252, 261–3, 265, 270; see also television Mehta, Pratap Bhanu 84, 163 Meiyappan, Gurunath 228, 229, 239, 244–5 MGR, see Ramachandran, Marudur Gopalan middle classes 37, 96 middlemen 114–17 Milanovic, Branko 70 mining 122–4; see also coal Mittal, Lakshmi 46, 60, 216–17 Mittal, Sunil 60 Modi, Hiraben 85 Modi, Lalit 228, 229, 230–6, 245–6, 247 Modi, Manoj 18, 19 Modi, Narendra xxi, 9, 16, 84–7, 272, 280–2 and Adani 55–6, 75–7 and Adityanath 287–8 and Ambani 22 and anti-corruption 96–7, 119, 301 and banks 48 and Bhagwati 69, 70 and BJP 90–1, 94–5 and business 299, 302–3 and cricket 242 and demonetisation 102, 103–6, 107–8 353 and economic reforms 192, 203 and election 81–4, 95–6, 98–9, 100, 126, 135–6 and Hindu nationalism 97–8, 277–8, 279–80 and inequality 300 and premiership 275–6, 282–7, 289–94 and riots 92–3 and RSS 88–90 and Shah 278–9 and television 252, 268, 269, 273–5 Modi, Prahlad 86, 89 Morgan, John Pierpont xxiii Mughal Empire xviii, 57 Mukherjee, Aditya 76 multinationals 68, 285 Mumbai ix–xiii, xiv, xxiv, 3–4, 178 and airport 297–8 and Ceejay House 181–2 and terrorism 258–9 see also Antilia Munde, Gopinath 137 Mundra 54–5, 57, 59, 74, 75 Murdoch, Rupert 227 Murthy, Narayana 62 Muslims 40, 56, 80, 87–8, 277–8, 279 and Gujarat 94, 99–100 and riots 91, 92, 93 Naidu, Chandrababu 164, 165–6, 167 Nandy, Ashis 91, 118 Narayan, Jayaprakash 165–6, 167 natural resources 63, 64, 105, 110, 202 Nayak, P J 191–2, 193, 198 Nayar, Arun 216 NDTV (New Delhi Television) 354 THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ 256–7, 269, 270–1 Nehru, Jawaharlal xviii, 15, 95, 210, 275 and economy 39–40, 41 and RSS 87 New Delhi xxiv, 110–11 News Tonight, The (TV show) 256 Newshour with Arnab Goswami, The (TV show) 251–5, 257, 260–1, 267–8 Nilekani, Nandan 62 Ninan, T N 261 notebandi, see demonetisation Nussbaum, Martha 93 Obama, Barack 46, 272, 281 Odisha 201, 204 oil 23, 43 Oliver, John 252 Olson, Mancur 158 Operation U-Turn 225–9, 236–9, 241–4 Osman Ali Khan 164 outsourcing 61–2, 119, 164–5 Pahuja, Mukesh ‘Michele’ 106 Pai, Mohandas 268 Pakistan 40, 131, 226, 251, 260–1 Pal, Anuvab 115 Pandiarajan 152–3 Parrikar, Manohar 122–3 Partition 40 Pasqualotto, Gabriella 232 Pathan, Jasood 85, 88 Patnaik, Ila 104 patronage 130, 144, 146, 301 Pawar, Sharad 242 Piketty, Thomas xx, 66, 71–2 politics xxi, 9–11, 15–16, 157–8, 159 and Andhra Pradesh 168–9, 170, 171 and billionaires 62, 63, 65 and business 161–2 and caste 129, 130 and corruption 110, 125, 132–3, 134, 141–6 and industry 220–1 and Mallya 36–7, 49–50 and middlemen 114–15 and patronage 14, 15 and Sinha 61 see also elections; Modi, Narendra Poonawalla, Cyrus 213 populism 151 ports 53–4, 57, 59, 74 poverty 46, 69, 116, 118 Prahalad, C K 208, 210 Premachandran, Dileep 240 Pritchett, Lant 120 protest movements 43 Przeworski, Adam 131 public-private partnerships (PPPs) 163 public services 14, 15 Putin, Vladimir 98, 293 Quraishi, Shahabuddin 136 Radia, Niira 263 Rai, Vinod 110–11, 112, 113, 114, 117, 125 and cricket 245, 247 and Jindal 205 Raja, Andimuthu 112, 113 Rajagopal, Lagadapati 160, 161–3, 167, 172–3, 196 Rajan, Raghuram xx, 13–15, 49, 217 and anti-corruption 303 and billionaires 298–9 and debt 189–90, 191–3, 194–5, 196 and Modi 293 INDEX and politicians 146 and resignation 197–8, 288–9 and Sinha 62–3 Ram Rath Yatra 91 Ramachandran, Marudur Gopalan (MGR) 150–1 Ramaswamy, Cho 152 Ramesh, Jairam 186, 188 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 87–8, 89, 90, 278 Reddy, Gali Janardhana 123, 124, 200, 215–16, 217 Reddy, Jagan Mohan 169–70 Reddy, Konda Vishweshwar 168 Reddy, Y S Rajasekhara (‘YSR’) 166, 167–8, 169 Reddy, Yaga Venugopal 44, 46–7 Reliance Industries x, xi, xii, 3, 4–6, 17–25 and Gujarat 54 religion 43, 56, 70, 80, 221, 291–2; see also Hindu nationalism; Muslims Rendezvous 235 rent seeking 64, 65, 110 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 13, 14, 44, 288 riots 80, 92–3, 95, 97 Rockefeller, John xxiii Rodrik, Dani 72, 304 Roosevelt, Teddy 275 Rorty, Richard xxiv–xxv Roy, Arundhati 270 Roy, Prannoy and Radhika 256–7, 270 Roy, Subrata 144–6, 216, 235 RSS, see Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Ruia, Ravi 218–19 Ruparel, Foram ix–x Rushdie, Salman 213, 270 355 Russia 41–2, 60, 65, 109, 299 Sabharwal, Manish 119, 158, 305 Sahara India 144–6, 235 Samajwadi (‘Socialist’) Party 128, 129, 130, 133, 141–2 Sangh Parivar 88 Sanyal, Meera 9–11, 62 Sardesai, Rajdeep 256, 257, 261, 263, 266, 269 satraps 157–8 Satyam Computer 65, 164–5 Savarkar, Vinayak 88, 277 scams, see season of scams scandal xxi, 224, 225–9, 236 season of scams xxi, 15, 104–5, 111–14, 299 secularism 83, 88, 128, 277, 291–2 Sen, Amartya xix, 68, 69–70, 76, 94 and inequality 299, 300 Shah, Amit 242, 278–9, 292 Shainin, Jonathan 261 Sharma, Mihir 157 Sharma, Ruchir 64–5 Shaw Wallace 32 Shetty, Shilpa 233 Shiv Sena 264 Shourie, Arun 5, 259, 286 Singh, Harbhajan 238 Singh, Manmohan 15, 32, 63, 113 and financial crisis 38, 43 and reforms 44–5, 46, 182 Singhania, Gautam Hari 213–15, 219 Sinha, Jayant xxiv, 59–61, 62–3, 66, 188, 303 and banking 195, 198 and Modi 275 slums xiv, 116, 297–8 South Korea 46, 118 special economic zones (SEZs) 356 THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ 56–7, 75, 76 Sreesanth, Shanthakumaran 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 245 and betting 236–7, 238–9 Srinivasan, Narayanaswami 221, 228, 229, 234, 235, 239–46, 247–8 and Goswami 253 start-ups 62 steel 46, 187, 201–4 stock market 178–80 Studwell, Joe 118 Subramanian, Arvind 196, 197, 283 Subramanian, Samanth 231 Summers, Larry 46 super-rich, see billionaires Swamy, Subramanian 288–9 Syndicate 194 Taiwan 46 Taj Mahal Palace 9, 73, 258–9 Tamil Nadu 148, 150–5, 156–7, 240 Tata 46, 211 Tata, Ratan 9, 263 taxation 104, 106–7, 128, 285, 286, 300 TeamLease 119 technology 61–2, 71 Telangana 157, 160–1; see also Hyderabad telecoms xvii, 5–6, 19–22, 23, 24, 109 and corruption 111–12 television 227–8, 233, 244, 256–7 and Goswami 251–5, 257–61, 264–71 terrorism 9, 258–9 Thackeray, Bal 264 Thackeray, Uddhav 264–5 Thailand xxii Thapar, Karan 256 Tharoor, Shashi 111, 235, 267, 292 ‘tiger’ economies 46, 118 Timblo, Ambar 123 Times Now 251, 252, 253, 255, 257–8 trade xviii–xix, 40–1, 57–8, 68 Transparency International 105 Tripathi, Amish 270 Trump, Donald 98 Tversky, Amos 187 Twain, Mark xxiii, 13 Twenty20 228, 230 2G scam 111–12, 113, 219 tycoons, see billionaires United Breweries 32, 33, 39, 49 United States of America (USA) xxiii–xxv, 12–13, 15, 305–6 and financial crisis 190 and Gujaratis 58 and Modi 93 and outsourcing 61–2 urbanisation 46, 71, 275 Uttar Pradesh (UP) 127–8, 129–31, 132–4, 141–5, 146–7, 156, 304 and Modi 278, 287–8 Vadnagar 84, 85–6 Vaishnav, Milan 110, 142, 171 Vajpayee, Atal Bihari 91 Vanderbilt, Cornelius xxiii, 12, 13, 303 Vanderbilt, William Henry 12 Vanderbilt, William Kissam 12–13 Varshney, Ashutosh xxiv, 16, 95, 128, 303 Verniers, Gilles 142–3, 146 Victor, Vineet 132–3, 134 Videocon 235, 236 INDEX violence 91–3, 95, 160, 161, 162 Vivekananda, Swami 88 Vyas, Yamal 90–1 Wade, Robert 122 Walton, Michael 63–4, 66 weddings 73–4, 158–9, 200, 215–17 White Tiger, The (Adiga) 114 Whyte & Mackay 35 women 97, 130–1; see also Jayalalithaa World Is Flat, The (Friedman) 62 357 World Trade Organization (WTO) xvii Yadav, Akhilesh 127, 128, 129, 130, 132–3, 141, 145 Yadav, Mulayam Singh 129, 130, 143, 158 YSR, see Reddy, Y S Rajasekhara Zakaria, Fareed 291, 292 Zingales, Luigi 197–8 Zinta, Preity 26, 233 ... Ahmedabad IN DIA MAHARASHTRA Mumbai Arabian Sea Hyderabad GOA Panjim Bay of Bengal KARNATAKA Bangalore Tirupati Chennai 0 200 Miles 300 Kilometres INDIAN OCEAN PART TYCOONS Antilia, Mukesh Ambani’s... Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Mahim Bay bandra-worli sea link I N DIA Mumbai Arabian Sea SOU TH MUMBA I Site of the Aston Martin Crash Antilia Pedder Road Gamdevi Police Station Babulnath... populism and authoritarianism as so many others have.’ Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard University, and author of The Globalization Paradox THE BILLIONAIRE RAJ A JOURNEY